Control system for gun-mountings and other mechanism.



A. T.V DAWSON & 1. HonNE. CONTROL SYSTEM FOR GUN MOUNTINGS AND OTHERMECHANISM.

APPLlcAT-lou man oc.'2,1913'.'

Patented 15111.*9, 191'47.'

UNiTED STATES PATENT onirica.

ARTHUR. TREVOR DAWSON, 0F WESTMINSTER, LONDON',` AND JAMES HORNE, OFBABROW-IN-FURNESS, ENGLAND, ASSIGNORS T0 VICKERS LIMITED, OF

wEsTMINsTER, ENGLAND.'-

CONTROL SYSTEM FOR GUN-MOUNTINGS AND OTHER MECHANISM.

I Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented J an.` 9, -191'7.

Original application led July 12, 1912, Serial No. 708,964. Divided andthis application led December 2,'

To all 'whom t may concern Be it known. that we, ARTHUR TREv'oR DAwsoN,knight, and JAMEs HoaNn, both subjects of the King of Great Britain,residing, respectively, 'at Vickers House, Broadway, .Westminster, inthe county'of London, England, and Naval Construction Works,Barrow-inFurness,

tain new and useful Improvements in or Relating to Control Systems forGun- Mountings and otherMechanism, of which the following is aspecification.

This -inventionrelates to control systems for gun mountings and othermechanism.

In control systems hunting gear has been'employed in conjunction with apower driven member forming part of the mechani'sm to be driven, andwith a member which is actuated electrically Jfrom a distance but1s-incapable of itself exerting any appreciable force beyond that whichis necessary to operate a relay for bringing the motive When theelectrically actuated member is moved out of'alinement or coincidencelwith a neutral, point on the othergor power driven member, an electriccircuit is closed through suitably arranged and energizes the relayVwhich brings into operation a motor for driving the mechanis'm and thesaid power driven member, such operation continuing so long as thecircuit remains closed e. until the neutral point of the power driven.member` regains its position of alinement or coincidence with theelectrically actuated member.

According to this invention the contact rings kon the power member ormembers are4 dividedinto a number of segments each of which iselectrically connected to a contact iinger. or the like that is adaptedto bear on one or other of two contact plates connected tothe controldevice, the said contact plates forming part of the electricalconnections with the relay. v

In order that the said invention may be clearly yunderstood and readilycarried into effect we will describe the same vmore fully with referenceto the accompanying drawings, in which:

in the countyy of Lancaster, England, have inventedcer-I ring a3.

1913. Serial N0. 804,165.

Figure is a sectional elevation showing a form of the apparatus; Fig. 2is a diagram showing the electrical connections of the arrangementillustrated in Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 1s an enlarged view of the epicyclicgear shown in .Figx 1.

A is the power driven member connected to-a toothed wheel A forming partofthe gearing connected to the mechanism to be driven.` Thismechanismmaybe the elevating or training mechanism of a gun and in this .casethesaid toothed wheel is driven by anf' elevating or traininghydraulicmotor whose control valve is indicated at C in Fig. 2. 4

Two switches (one off which transmits large increments of range orbearing asset appertain tothe switch transmitting theJ largerincrements.. ln' the example shown,

the member A is in the form of a drum or disk having on its face twocircles of contact segments. contacts forming part of the two membersYThe outer circle of segments d', a2, a, a7 and a8 .appertains to thecontact bx of the f member B and the inner circle @4,05 appertains tothe contact B0- of the member B0. The contacts bX and B0x of the membersB and B0 respectively bear against a supply The contacts shown to therear -forth' for example in 'the specification of of the drum A in Fig.y1 are forthe purpose of conveying electric current to the segments.

The motor BXy that appertains to the' switch transmitting the smallerincrements of range or bearing directly displaces the faster member Bthrough the inner spindle b?. The motor BXX which moves more slowly thanthe motor Bx and appertains. to the switch transmitting the largeincrements of range or bearing operates upon the slow moving member B0Athrough the epicyclic gearing shown clearly in Fig. 3.v This gearcomprises asun wheel .62X .formed on the spindle B driven by the motorBXx and toothed wheels a9, a9* mounted on a spindle ed to the member B0.

i position predetermined by .the movements of the members B, B", itcarries with it the toothed wheels a9, a-"X and as the wheel b2* is nowstationary, the movement of these wheels about the axis of the drumcauses them to also move about their own axis and thereby displace themember B0, eventually moving this member into alinement with the memberB which remains stationary during this operation; when the members arein this position, the gun is brought to rest as will be more fullydescribed with reference to Fig. 2. When the gun is being elevated ortrained quickly the step-by-step motor Bxx geared to the outer spindle Bformed with the sun wheel b2* (which motor appertains to thetransmitting switch that is adapted to transmit large increments ofrange or bearing) alone moves and causes a displacement of the slowermember Bo which in turn causes the hereinafter de scribed relay tooperate and cause the drum A to be angularly displaced an amountcorresponding to that, of the sun wheel b2". The stem c oftheaforesaidicontrol valve C carries a piston c disposed in a cylinderd2 having a plug 'd' by which motive Huid can be admitted to orexhausted from the end of the cylinder remote from the control valve.This plug has a pinion which meshes with rack teeth on the armature orcore Dc of two electromagnets or solenoid coils D, D. The end of thecylinder nearest the valve C Iis supplieda with motive Huid underconstant pressure. Itwill thus be seen that in accordance with thedirection in which the armature or core Dx is displaced, the plug valved is moved to place the rear end of the cylinder to pressure or toexhaust, thereby causing a movement in one or other direction of thecontrol valve C.

Contact plates C, CXx are formed on an extension ofthe valve stem c andare in contact with-fingers c", 0"* which are respectively connected tothe solenoids D; D. The segments a', a2, a4, a5, a", a7, and as, are inelectrical connection with fingers ax", am, am, am, am, am, and asrespectively, that are adapted to engage with the conta-ct plates C",CX". The supply ring a3 is connected to the source of electric supply.

When the member B moves with respect to the drum A, it causes forexamplethe segment a.6 to be electrically connected with the rannte supply ringa3. The solenoid D will accordingly be energized, andthe valve -C willvbe moved until the finger aux* appertaining to thesegment a comesopposite the gap-between the two contact plates C", CX". As 7@ the drumA moves to assume its original or neutralposition with respect to themember B and the contact as becomes electrilied, the valve will moveuntil the gap between the plates C", C rests upon the correspondingcontact am, and will then be completely shut olf and the parts broughtto rest.

lf the movement ot the member B is greater than that above mentioned, itwill passV on to the segment a', .and the solenoid D will move the valveC until the gap comesV beneath the iinger 0,1%". lf the movement of themember B is greater than half a revolution the memberB will take overthe control, this member being moved by the aforesaid epicyclic gearinginto contact with the segment a5. The valve C willthen be moved untilthe aforesaid gap comes opposite the linger asx", the valve being thenfully opened.`

When the drum A moves as a result of the so displacement of thehydraulic motor, the converse operations will take place, that is tosay, the valve will be moved intermittently toward its closed position,lirst until the gapl between the plates C", Cxx comes opposite the ngerab, then until the said gap comes opposite the finger am and finallyuntil the gap comes opposite the finger asx* when the valve will be inits closed position and the parts are. all at rest. By a suitableseparalo@ tion of the contact fingers, the valve opening may be easilyadjusted in proportion to the amount of lag represented by theparticular segment Jin connection with the contact hnger. The action ofthe parts is intermittent me in character owing to the number of partialopening and closing movements of the control valve being limited to thenumber of contact segments. When only one motor is used the member Boand its circle of seg- M411 ments need not be employed. In this case theteeth of the Wheel b2* are formed on the spindle b9 carrying thememberB.

What we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates is 1. In a control system for power driven mechanism, thecombination of a member driventhereby, two sets of contact strips and asupply ring thereon, two members actuated from a dlstance and moving atdierent 12@ speeds, a relay under the control of said members, a controldevice for the power driven mechanism, means for operating said controldevice from the relay, means whereby relative movement between saidpower 125 driven' member and said members -actuated from a distancerenders the relay operative and means whereby the movement of said relayconsequent on its being rendered operative, rendersit again inoperative.

2. In a control system for power driven mechanism, the combination of amember driven thereby, two sets of contact strips and a supply ringthereon, two members actuated from a distance and moving at dierentspeeds, contact fingers in electrical connection with said strips,contact plates against which said fingers bear, a relay in electricalconnection with said contact plates, a con- In testimony whereof we aixour signatures in presence of two witnesses.

ARTHUR TREVOR DAWSON.

JAMES HORNE.

Witnesses to the slgna Trevor Dawson:

HENRY` KING, JNO. R. CASWELL.

trol device actuated by said relay, and means Horne:

-for connecting said plates with. the control device.

W. H. ATKINSON, A. D. LLOYD.

ture of Arthur Witnesses to the signature of James

